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Kathleen Kennedy Updates 'Jurassic Park 4' & 'Tintin' Sequel

It's a busy time for both Steven Spielberg and his longtime production collaborator, Kathleen Kennedy. The two have been working together ever since Raiders of the Lost Ark back in 1981 (where the latter served as an "associate" to Spielberg) and will continue to do so in the future - including on next year's Lincoln, the still-theoretical Jurassic Park 4, and the already-in-development sequel to Spielberg's The Adventures of Tintin adaptation.

Kennedy and Spielberg were recently at a New York press junket for their other 2011 release, War Horse. The former has revealed some interesting tidbits of information, with regards to both a fourth Jurassic Park flick and the next 3D mo-cap Tintin movie.

Jurassic Park 4

Previous reports revealed that Spielberg and screenwriter Mark Protosevich are actively concocting a story for Jurassic Park 4; however, according to Kennedy, no actual script writing has been done just yet. That statement contradicts previous comments by Spielberg, who said that Protosevich had begun working on the screenplay for a fourth Jurassic Park and that the film has "a good story" already in place.

On that note - here is what Kennedy had to offer Collider, with regards to the likelihood of Jurassic Park 4 actually being made:

“A great script is what it’s gonna take to get a fourth 'Jurassic Park'. We have a very high bar for ourselves because we’re just like the audience, we don’t wanna make the movie if there’s not a reason to make the movie. So we’ve kinda created the dilemma ourselves because it was never intended to be a franchise, so there’s an argument to be made ‘Why are you doing a fourth 'Jurassic Park'?’ So we’ve gotta find a good reason for why we’re doing a fourth 'Jurassic Park' and we’re in the midst of working on that right now.”

Many moviegoers would probably agree that the last two installments in the franchise (The Lost World: Jurassic Park and Jurassic Park III) didn't exactly play out as uncontrived continuations of the plot in the original Jurassic Park - though, judging by the box office returns, that didn't prevent the masses from watching them, anyway.

Still, even if Protosevich has in fact begun writing Jurassic Park 4, that doesn't guarantee his script draft will even see the light of day. Best to just wait and see, on this one...

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The Adventures of Tintin

Spielberg's 3D motion-capture Adventures of Tintin movie has already grossed over $220 million in theaters outside the U.S.; so, assuming that the flick doesn't completely bomb when it hits the States, it's safe to say another Tintin movie is in the cards. The preliminary plan for that sequel remains the same: Spielberg will produce and Jackson will direct, switching their roles from the original.

Here is the tentative status/production timeline for the next Tintin movie (according to Kennedy):

"We’re working on a [new 'Tintin' movie] script right now, we’ll see a script probably February or March [of 2012]. If we can do some camera capture [in Summer 2012], which I think we could do, then we would be on track to have the movie either Christmas 2014 or Summer 2015, and so that’s what we’re looking at right now.”

Jackson is expected to wrap up principal photography on The Hobbit by the first half of Summer 2012; hence, the plan is for him to take a "break" and work on the performance-capture shoot for the new Tintin movie, before post-production on The Hobbit gets fully underway.

Considering that Spielberg completed "camera capture" on Adventures of Tintin in about 32 days, it is certainly feasible for Jackson to do likewise and fit the film into his currently-busy schedule.

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For more from Kennedy (including, her thoughts about a 3D re-release of Jurassic Park) read the full Collider interview.

The Adventures of Tintin opens in theaters around the U.S. on December 21st, 2011.